Futurist Keynote, London: The Future of Superyacht Design, SuperyachtNews
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the superyacht industry hots up and competition intensifies superyacht companies have to work harder to stay at the leading edge of design trends. Firstly, I’d like to thank Jack and Martin from RWD, a superyacht design company in the UK, and Feyi and...
Windows are the perfect lens-less cameras for AI and VR headsets
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Researchers have re-thought cameras from the point of view of today’s AI’s, and what they’ve created is as innovative as it is revolutionary. Cameras used to be their own devices with lenses and film and trips to the drug store to get the pictures...
World’s first space elevator hitches a ride to the ISS to begin first trials
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The cost of getting astronauts and cargo into space is still astronomical, a space elevator could eliminate the need for costly rocket launches and democratise access to space. Let’s be honest, launching things into space with rockets is a pretty inefficient way to do...
DeepMind’s AI now has human like 3D vision
WHY THIS MATERS IN BRIEF As we come to rely on robots and automated systems more in our daily lives their ability to accurately perceive our world is crucial. If I showed you a single picture of a room it’s likely you’d be able to tell me about it...
Revolutionising communications, Kymeta starts shipping metamaterial antennas
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Metamaterials have amazing, and unique, properties and they’re turning up in more places, and helping revolutionise more industries. The first 400 flat panel antennas developed by Redmond based Kymeta, which has received over $200million in funding so far from luminaries such as Bill Gates,...
Uber has killed off its self-driving truck division
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As Uber faces challenges on multiple fronts the company has had to take the hard decision to double down on strategic bets. Two years after Uber bought self-driving truck developer Otto for $680 million, the ride hailing company has announced that the Uber Advanced...
Blackhat hackers discover a way to turn satellites into “microwave weapons”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Satellites are ubiquitous and a newly discovered exploit could let hackers turn them into high frequency weapons that fry electronics on the ground. As I discussed in a recent keynote on the future of cybersecurity, even air gaps, thought to be the ultimate in...
Scientists created huge atom clouds to test quantum entanglement at scale
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The ability to harness quantum entanglement at scale will help revolutionise communications systems, computing, healthcare, and warfare, to name but a few. From tunnelling through impenetrable barriers to being in two places at the same time, the quantum world of atoms and particles is famously...
This new metamaterial could turn your car into its own airbag
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to create materials that can transition between hard and soft states could open the door to a whole host of new applications. I think you’ll agree with me that rubber and steel are at different ends of the spectrum when it comes...
Aston Martin unveils its first stunning flying car concept
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the technology to build flying cars improves, and as companies start to look rolling out the first services, the competition is heating up. Lamborghini recently unveiled their first electric hyper car concept where the car is the battery, but now Aston Martin, the iconic...
Rolls Royce is building cockroach like robots and snakes to fix airplane engines
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future we’ll see more maintenance jobs performed by robots of all sizes. Typically engineers want to get bugs out of their creations but that’s not the case for Rolls Royce, the engineering company who are building everything from autonomous cargo ships and...
Rolls Royce unveil their new flying taxi
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As more companies pile into the flying taxi market it’s increasingly likely that you’ll start seeing them appear in cities near you, kickstarting the next transportation revolution. British engine maker Rolls Royce revealed its plans this week to develop a hybrid electric vehicle, dubbed...
World’s first commercial solar aircraft aims for the Stratosphere
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Tomorrow’s aircraft will be battery powered, but future generations of aircraft could do away with the batteries entirely. While Elon Musk is invested in getting humans to different places, whether it’s from one side of the planet to the other in rocketships, or to...
Baidu starts mass production of it’s fully autonomous bus
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The faster autonomous vehicles hit the roads the faster the transportation industry’s going to flip, and it’s clear that there are companies that want it to happen sooner rather than later. Chinese tech and internet giant Baidu has begun volume production of China’s first...
Uber reveals six of its favourite flying taxi Skyport concepts
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As more companies become interested, and invest, in flying taxi’s, companies like Airbus and Uber are keen to be at the forefront of the revolution. Stout cylindrical towers that cars can fly inside and stacked landing pods are among the proposals that architects and...
New omniphobic material reduces maritime fuel consumption by upto 80 percent
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s ships use huge amounts of energy and fuel to move through the water because of the amount of drag on their hulls, this new coating could reduce fuel use by between 40 and 80 percent. Shipping is one of the most polluting industries...
It’s raining cash, US startup edges closer to creating solid state “Jesus” battery
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Solid state batteries charge faster, , don’t catch fire, last longer and and are cheaper to make than their liquid Lithium Ion cousins, making them a game changer. Recently technology giants like Dyson, Samsung and Total have collectively invested $65 million in Ionic Materials, a company...
Bin your headphones, Noveto streams sound straight into your ears
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Wired headphones get tangled, wireless headphones need charging, so why bother with headphones at all? When Apple introduced the iPhone 7 they removed the headphone jack and spun it as a win for consumers who could now use wireless headphones, obviously preferably Apple branded...
This is the world’s first 3D printed carbon fiber bike
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Carbon fiber’s light weight and superior strength make it idea for many applications, but up until now it’s been expensive and very difficult to work with to create products, that’s all about to change. Modern carbon fibre bikes, stiffer and stronger than their metal...
VW pledges to build a huge supercharger network across the US
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Unless you’d been asleep at the wheel recently you can’t help but notice that it looks like the days of the combustion engine are numbered and that electric vehicles are the future… It’s no secret that Volkswagen wants to sell more electric cars in...
